Make Your Own Materia Medica

Learning about natural medicines is so much fun, and using them successfully when you or your family gets sick is incredibly empowering. If you’re like me, though, the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know!

Whether you’ve amassed so many books that you don’t know which one to check when you need information … or you need a customized way to memorize the information you read … or you’re just ready to consolidate your knowledge into one central spot … it’s time to make your own materia medica.

What is a Materia Medica?

Simply put, a materia medica is a source book that includes the usage, contradictions, and other information about numerous medications. A materia medica may cover pharmaceutical drugs, medicinal herbs, homeopathic remedies, or even essential oils.

Since the first materia medica I made focused on herbs, that’s what I’m going to talk about here. If you want to start with homeopathy or essential oils, you can easily do so.

An author can include as much or as little information as she desires in this resource. Some published herbal materia medica are pretty brief – plant name, botanical name, and most common usages. Others include so much information that they may become overwhelming.

In your own herbal materia medica, you’ll find the happy medium that works perfectly for you.

You’ll be able to select the information that feels most important and relevant to you, while leaving out superfluous details that take your focus away from what’s important.

How to Make Your Own Materia Medica

To make your own materia medica, start by making a list of just 10-20 herbs that you want to learn in detail. These are the herbs that you want to know intimately. You want to dream about them at night. You want to be able to call to mind every detail of them at a moment’s notice.

When I first started making my materia medica, these are the herbs I chose:

Print as many copies of either template as you need to make your own materia medica. Hole punch them, put them in a binder, and you’ll have easy access to the information you need right when you need it.

Feel free to share these templates with your friends too!

Just in case you don’t feel like creating your own materia medica after all, here are two of my favorite herbal resources…

Leave me a comment below – I’d love to know what herbs you plan to put in your own materia medica!

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This information has not been evaluated by the FDA and is intended only for educational purposes. It is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure disease. Always consult a healthcare professional before making significant changes to your healthcare routine.

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Hi, I'm Cindy, wife, mom, and student of holistic health. I love seeking out medicinal herbs on summer hikes with my family and fixing up herbal medicines on long winter evenings. I'm glad you're here and look forward to getting to know you!

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Disclaimer

The information on this website has not been evaluated by the FDA and is intended only for educational purposes. It is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure disease. Always consult a healthcare professional before making significant changes to your healthcare routine.

Articles on this website may contain affiliate links. Using these links costs you nothing but generates a small commission for the blog author.
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.